The Trigg County Relay for Life teams kicked off their fundraising season Monday night at the Cadiz Christian Church.

This year’s Relay event will have a Western theme, so several of those attending the meeting were wearing cowboy boots, jeans and other Western gear, After the meal but before the organizers speaking, several people danced for the crowd.

At the beginning of the meeting, Board asked if all the present cancer survivors would please stand. At least eight people did.

“This is the reason we do Relay for Life,” Board said. “You are the heart of Relay and we appreciate you very much.”

Board also asked those who had ever been caregivers to stand and she thanked them, saying that cancer doesn’t only touch the patients.

Community representative Susan Hurt approached the podium with the most recent numbers related to last year’s fundraising. She that Trigg County was once again the number one per capita fundraiser in the state, the Mid-South Division and the nation. She said that the Oak Grove Baptist Church team was first in the state, number seven in the Mid-South Division and 33rd in the nation. The Ms. Fits team was fourth in the state, she said. Oak Grove member Carol Thomas was the number five individual fundraiser in the Mid-South Division.

Hurt said that Trigg County had also been given the Gordy Klatt Award, named for the Tacoma, Washington doctor who started Relay for Life in 1985. She said this was in honor of Trigg County being one of only three communities in Kentucky that still has a 24-hour Relay event. She said she was also happy to report that cancer death rates across the country had gone down for the second year in a row. Hurt said that The Cadiz Record had also been given the Lighthouse Media Award for the paper’s robust coverage of Relay for Life.